In the first couple of days as JSCInterim national football coach Alex Mortensen quickly earned the respect of sporting director Mark Ingram, who was impressed by Mortensen's composure, professionalism and steady leadership during a difficult transition period.
Mortensen, the 39-year-old son of the late ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, was tasked with replacing former Blazers coach Trent Dilfer, who gave him his first big break in coaching when he hired him as the team's offensive coordinator in 2023.
Mortensen was calm and confident when he met with UAB players and assistant coaches for the first time after the game, Ingram said. Dilfer was fired October 12. Mortensen was polished and prepared when he appeared before the media the next day.
“You're talking about a group of guys who were very excited about the news, and I think Alex handled it great,” Ingram said. “He met with the staff and I think he handled it very well. He was great on the podium with [the media]. I hate to say I was surprised, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well he handled it all because he just hadn't done it before.”
Mortensen was similarly cool and measured when he made his head coaching debut last week, leading UAB, a 21.5-point underdog, to victory. 31-24 upset then-No. 22 Memphis at Defense Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama.
After the Blazers scored with a seven-point lead with less than two minutes to play, the Tigers converted fourth-and-7 when the quarterback AJ Hill completed a 21-yard pass to Cortez Braham Jr..
It then looked like Memphis had scored a touchdown with the potential to tie the game with a PAT or take the lead with a two-point conversion when Greg Desrosiers Jr.. broke up a 41-yard run. But the replay officials ruled that Desrosiers' left knee was down at the 1-yard line.
That's when things started to go south for the Tigers. A false start penalty put them back at the UAB 6. Desrosiers nearly scored the first goal but was eliminated at the 1. Another false start, two incompletions and a delay of game penalty followed, leaving the Tigers with fourth-and-goal from the 11 with 19 seconds left.
What was going through Mortensen's head during the most important moment of his first game?
“Do we need or want to use a timeout in any of these situations?” said Mortensen. “What do we do if we're not happy with how we're aligned or maybe what set they come out in? What I'm thinking is that obviously we have to be prepared for them to make it a two-point game if they score. If they tie the game, I'm also thinking about how we might want to handle overtime.
“So, you know, just going through all these things. There was even a point where you thought, “Okay, if they score, with enough time on the clock, how do we want to handle a two-minute situation?” Whatever time is left, whether we want to try to score or whether we want to go into overtime.”
On fourth-and-goal, Lewis threw the ball into the left side of the end zone to Braham, who caught the ball out of bounds. Once the replay confirmed the decision, the Blazers wildly celebrated ending a three-game losing streak and winning for the first time in more than a month.
With backup defender Ryder Burton makes his first career start (starter Jalen Kitna was ruled out of the game with a shoulder injury), the Blazers had 470 yards of offense and went 9 of 13 in third place, ending the Tigers' 10-game winning streak.
“Obviously the result was amazing, our guys played very hard and played very confident until the very end,” Mortensen said.
It was UAB's fifth win over an AP Top 25 opponent in the program's 28-year history and first since beating No. 13 BYU 31-28 in the Independence Bowl late in the 2021 season.
“Given the emotions of not only the week but the season and the emotions of last year, they were intense,” Ingram said. “Like a positive emotional day seeing the faces of the players, coaches and fans and how excited they were. Holy shit, oh god, that was really good.”
Mortensen called Ingram Thursday night and said, “Memphis is really good.”
“My plan is to try to slow the game down as much as possible to mitigate what they're doing,” Mortensen told him. “You know, if they don't have the ball, they can't score. And even if we don't score, hopefully we can keep the ball away from them. We can keep it close to where we are in the game because if it's low enough, we'll never be out of the game.”
Instead of the fast-paced offense that was Dilfer's calling card, the Blazers were more deliberate and patient. They still weren't huddled together most of the time, but they weren't getting the ball as quickly either, which took more time off the game clock.
Mortensen's plan brought unexpected benefits. UAB's offense was more disciplined and made fewer of the mistakes that had plagued it in the past. The Blazers were penalized 13 times for 110 yards in a 56-24 loss at Tennessee, 11 times for 73 yards in a 31-13 loss to Army and 15 times for 128 yards in a 53-33 loss at Florida Atlantic.
They had just six penalties for 47 yards against Memphis.
“They were all maybe a little more confident in their assignments on offense,” Ingram said. “When you're in a hurry, you better know what you're doing. There is no room for error here; your margin for error really narrows. And when you slow down, I just think what happens is something like, “OK, that's it, deep breath.”
Ingram made the decision to fire Dilfer a day after a loss to Florida Atlantic dropped the Blazers' record to 2-4.
Dilfer, a former Super Bowl-winning quarterback and ESPN analyst, had a 9-21 record in two-plus seasons at UAB.
“Trent told the team after the FAU game, ‘I don’t think you’re a bad football team. You just don’t play good football,” Ingram said. “I agree with that because there were times when we scored or had a good defensive run and I thought, 'God, if we can keep playing like this, we're going to win a lot of football games, you know?' And then we just couldn’t support it.”
During a meeting with Ingram the day he was fired, Dilfer recommended that Mortensen become interim head coach. Before Dilfer hired him, Mortensen had only coached for one season, in 2012, when he was the defensive backs coach at Division II New Mexico Highlands.
Mortensen, who played defenseman in Arkansas And Samfordspent nine seasons as an assistant and analyst at Alabama from 2014 to 2022. The Crimson Tide won three national championships and went 115-12 while he was there.
“I thought he was one of the smartest people to ever come through our program,” former Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “He really understood football, had excellent knowledge and good progress in his studies. He was a quiet guy, which is what I always talked to him about. He needed to be more sociable and more open with the players and colleagues.”
During his nine seasons at Alabama, Mortensen met several offensive coordinators who are now head coaches in college football and the NFL: Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Brian Daboll (New York Giants), Mike Locksley (Maryland) and Bill O'Brien (Boston College).
At Alabama, Mortensen worked primarily with defensive backs, coaching NFL starters. Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones and Heisman winner Bryce Young along the way.
“He really knew the position well from a technical standpoint,” Saban said. “It was just made from the right materials. He didn't have a big ego and he was never influenced by all these things. He was a really good teacher and helped develop a lot of good players.”
Saban said Mortensen stayed with him for almost a decade because other schools didn't want to give him a chance until Dilfer did.
“He could never break through and get an opportunity because everyone always said, 'Well, you need experience,'” Saban said. “But he is an example of a guy who had tremendous professional fortitude to persevere through the ups and downs and hang in there and hang in there. He believed in himself and prepared himself so that when he got the opportunity, he could take it, and he certainly did.”
One person who wasn't surprised by Mortensen's ability to remain calm and focused in the final minutes of UAB's win over Memphis was NFL reporter Adam Schefter, who worked with Chris Mortensen for 15 years at ESPN.
Schefter, Alex Mortensen and ESPN analyst Chris Berman gave eulogies at Chris Mortensen's funeral. Mortensen died on March 3, 2024. He was 72 years old.
“I could barely hold it in,” Schefter said. “[Alex] went up there – and this is his father and the most important figure in his life – and he was as calm and collected as anyone could ever hope to be. I could never be as calm and collected as he was that day.”
Chris Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991 and has been a regular on the NFL show and “SportsCenter.” In 2016, he received the Dick McCann Award from the Pro Football Writers of America and was honored during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in August of that year.
In January 2016, Chris Mortensen was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer. He retired from his position at ESPN in 2023.
“There’s nothing that would make Mort happier than Alex,” Schefter said. “When he sort of cut [from work]he wanted to watch Alex's teams, and he wanted to watch Alex's coach. This was hope. This is what he wanted to do in his free time. I can't overstate how much he loved Alex.”
Schefter, who remains in close contact with Alex, watched UAB's win over Memphis on television Saturday with his family. As he watched his late friend's only child lead his team to one of its biggest upsets of the season, he corresponded with a couple of colleagues at ESPN.
At one point in the game, Schefter wrote, “I can’t believe how much I care about this game.”
Someone replied, “That’s what love does to you.”
“We love Mort and we love Alex,” Schefter said. “We are very proud of him. And in some ways, we feel like we're representing Mort and looking out for Alex and rooting for him and supporting him from afar.”
Alex Mortensen also thought a lot about his late father on Saturday.
“I think about my dad every single day and think about what he will tell me to do,” Mortensen said. “I used to turn to him for advice on many issues, and so I’m always interested in what he has to say to me. Saturday was definitely no exception.”
After Burton took a knee in victory lane to end UAB's stunning upset, Schefter sent a message to Chris Mortensen's widow, Miki, congratulating her on Alex's win and telling her how much it meant to so many of Chris' former colleagues.
Her response: “Tears of happiness,” with a heart emoji.
